Raising Ducks

Well..as my hubby says,they’ll know when they’re cold. Not to be nosy, but could there be some kind of weird smell in there? Mold? I am in NW PA and it is pretty bad here for weather already. Is the dog house their only shelter? Can you construct something else to give them another option? We built a new barn this year. The ducks were still in their pen when we got unexpected snow...I went out to see many of my ducks covered in snow and almost icy spots from frost...well tthaat was it..everyone went in new barn that night...I just don’t want you to wake up to snowball ducks. :(
 
Thanks for all of your responses. They are about 2-3 months old. The wind seems to have healed itself, I guess I just panicked. Thanks for caring since this is all new to me and I really love animals and only want them to be well and happy. They don't seem to ever be cold and we do live in the far northeast of PA. They have a very large dog house we put bedding in for them to shelter in but they only go in and out of it and seem to sleep outside of it in the pen all the time. They do like walking outside of the pen and seem to follow me around which I enjoy but sometime it's hard to get them back into the pen.
How do you know if you have females or males?? Do all female ducks lay eggs??
Thanks again
Ok..as for back into the pen..ducks love routine. So, every evening go out to the pen and rattle the food jug..loudly and yell DUCKS..or whatever...they’ll catch on..you can throw some food to get them in. If they are not coming then you need a partner to guide them in while you rattle food. They walk with arms open wide and slowly herd them in. Do the routine for a few nights and bingo...they’ll start quacking to get you to come out for it! :).
Female ducks are loud...they also usually have dull coloring...drakes have low scratchy voices, nicer coloring and many breeds have a tail curl. Do you know what breed they are? Can you post pictures? Yes, typically hens lay eggs...perhaps not every day..they need to be older than your ducks and need about 14 hrs of sunlight..so I doubt they will lay this year.
 
Well..as my hubby says,they’ll know when they’re cold. Not to be nosy, but could there be some kind of weird smell in there? Mold? I am in NW PA and it is pretty bad here for weather already. Is the dog house their only shelter? Can you construct something else to give them another option? We built a new barn this year. The ducks were still in their pen when we got unexpected snow...I went out to see many of my ducks covered in snow and almost icy spots from frost...well tthaat was it..everyone went in new barn that night...I just don’t want you to wake up to snowball ducks. :(

Well that's a good thought. The dog house was never used because we wound up babying the dog, so it never got a chance to use it. I did clean it out today of their bedding but I didn't smell anything at all. We have a cover over the pen and around most of the bottom to keep snow from blowing in but I will give some thought to building a different enclosure for them, I just feel they don't want to be inside anything.Thanks for your input. :thumbsup
 
Ok..as for back into the pen..ducks love routine. So, every evening go out to the pen and rattle the food jug..loudly and yell DUCKS..or whatever...they’ll catch on..you can throw some food to get them in. If they are not coming then you need a partner to guide them in while you rattle food. They walk with arms open wide and slowly herd them in. Do the routine for a few nights and bingo...they’ll start quacking to get you to come out for it! :).
Female ducks are loud...they also usually have dull coloring...drakes have low scratchy voices, nicer coloring and many breeds have a tail curl. Do you know what breed they are? Can you post pictures? Yes, typically hens lay eggs...perhaps not every day..they need to be older than your ducks and need about 14 hrs of sunlight..so I doubt they will lay this year.
Ok..as for back into the pen..ducks love routine. So, every evening go out to the pen and rattle the food jug..loudly and yell DUCKS..or whatever...they’ll catch on..you can throw some food to get them in. If they are not coming then you need a partner to guide them in while you rattle food. They walk with arms open wide and slowly herd them in. Do the routine for a few nights and bingo...they’ll start quacking to get you to come out for it! :).
Female ducks are loud...they also usually have dull coloring...drakes have low scratchy voices, nicer coloring and many breeds have a tail curl. Do you know what breed they are? Can you post pictures? Yes, typically hens lay eggs...perhaps not every day..they need to be older than your ducks and need about 14 hrs of sunlight..so I doubt they will lay this year.
Ok..as for back into the pen..ducks love routine. So, every evening go out to the pen and rattle the food jug..loudly and yell DUCKS..or whatever...they’ll catch on..you can throw some food to get them in. If they are not coming then you need a partner to guide them in while you rattle food. They walk with arms open wide and slowly herd them in. Do the routine for a few nights and bingo...they’ll start quacking to get you to come out for it! :).
Female ducks are loud...they also usually have dull coloring...drakes have low scratchy voices, nicer coloring and many breeds have a tail curl. Do you know what breed they are? Can you post pictures? Yes, typically hens lay eggs...perhaps not every day..they need to be older than your ducks and need about 14 hrs of sunlight..so I doubt they will lay this year.

Thanks again. I looked in a book titled" Ducks 101" and from what I can gather they are Pekin ducks , since they are all white with Orange bills. I has a bright orange bill and the other is a little duller. The bigger of the 2 has the dull bill, so would that one be the female??
Thanks for the suggestion on getting them back in the pen, I will give it a go. :yesss:
 
Thanks again. I looked in a book titled" Ducks 101" and from what I can gather they are Pekin ducks , since they are all white with Orange bills. I has a bright orange bill and the other is a little duller. The bigger of the 2 has the dull bill, so would that one be the female??
Thanks for the suggestion on getting them back in the pen, I will give it a go. :yesss:
If it is flesh colored then you probably have a white layer. They often get put into the same batch. If it is just a tad less orange it is probably not a full Pekin. At least that’s what I was told about mine. I have all three varieties. Two of the different versions of my 19 week old came from TS as Pekins but the flesh bills are white layers. At this point as far as size the true Pekins are bigger. Beak color doesn’t usually have anything to do with gender as far as I know. That’s quack and tails. Behavior sometimes shows if they are very dominant during mating season but some females are like that too Enjoy them for their individual personalities and their unique beaks will help you tell them apart:)
 
Thanks for the info. I guess we will have to wait and see because I do think the one with the pale beak is larger than the other one so I am hoping it's a she and she will lay an egg or two. Who knows , I just think they are fun.:wee
 

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